Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Happy Halloween everyone! As I sit at my desk, Tootsie Roll Pop in my mouth (stolen from our candy stash for trick or treaters...I've been good all week but I finally had to open the damn bags!), I just wanted to drop a line and say hey.

This is one of my favorite holidays of the year! I used to love it as a kid because I got to go out trick or treating. I still remember hitting our hilly, suburban neighborhood hard, my brother in his plastic Steve Austin costume and me in my Spidey outfit (same one every year) getting pillow cases full of candy. I have vivd memories of dumping the candy out and then crashing in front of the tv to play INDY 500 and Intellivision Football on the Atari 2600 with my best friend Cary. Ahhh, memories :)

Then as a young adult I loved it for all the horror themed props and movies,all the dark fantasy that- for once a year- seemed not only ok, but encouraged.

Now-as a dad-I love it because I get to take my kids trick or treating. I gave up a few years ago trying to force my kids to have fun and make great memories; that's out of my hands. But for me, I form my own great memories, watching them toddle up and knock on doors, watching them excitedly rooting thru their candy bags to see how many sweets they've collected. And then- once they are asleep- I love crashing in front of the tv and stealing candy from my kid's candy bags while watching shows on sci-fi and discovery about ghost hunting and real life spooky locations. Hell I may even stay up late tonight and pop in a scary movie. Or maybe not...we'll see.

Lots of work to do today, so I need to really hunker down and stay focused till about 3pm when my kid comes home and I take off early to help her and her sister get ready for the big night. So off to work I go...

...but if this is your holiday- like it is mine- have a great, safe time! Man, I'm excited!

Monday, October 29, 2007

Hey, so a handful of net interviews I did a while back (start of summer) have just hit. Some interviews you do, you come off great, others you come off like an ass. But I'm really happy with all of these. Maybe I just got lucky or maybe I'm getting better at communicating my points. Or maybe these guys are just great at making their subjects come across great. Either way, I think these represent my ideas and positions really well. So give them a read/listen if you are into such things:

INTERVIEW #1: The first interview is with N'gai Croal from Newsweek. N'gai always scares me cause he strikes me as one of the smartest game journalists out there. With most other game journalists I feel like I'm on even ground, like I can go toe to toe with these guys/gals and have a decent chance of coming out smelling like roses. With N'gai, he's like Ivan in Rocky 4, like all it takes is some secret code word and he'll uncork with a flurry of big words and even bigger ideas and I'll be left stunned and staggered. That said, I thought this interview came out great. He also gave me the much desired chance to use a different photo than that awful, depressing green jacket picture that's been floating around for the last few years. You know, this crappy pic:

Yuch man...I hate that picture. So click on the link to not only read the interview but see what I hope becomes the new defacto Jaffe picture:

#2- Here is an interview I did with the online version of Playboy ages ago. Had totally forgotten about this one till it surfaced last week. This is about as clear as I can be when it comes to my whole issue with stories and games. Here's a link:

Check out the interviews with other game makers in that same series. Some good reas in there.

#3- Finally, here is a phone interview I did for PlaystationNation end of last week. Audio is not great and I kind of ramble a bit but there may some stuff in ther you find of interest. Give it a listen at...I come in around the, I dunno, 15 minute mark if you want to hear me blab. But I recommend listening to the whole show. I'd never heard it before, but I dig it. Link is:

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My Latest Game

This is the game I directed/lead designed that is currently running on Playstation Network! The critics pretty much hated it but it has its fans and I am one of them! I'm super proud of this thing and I think it's a blast! Hope to see ya online while it's still alive :).

THE LITTLE COMPANY THAT WAS...

We've officially shut down The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency. I am almost certain it shall rise again one day in some form or another but at least as far as ver 1.0 is concerned, 'She's dead, Jim'. And I'll miss her. What a great team, a great company, and a great experience. Thanks for everything, Bartlet Jones! And thanks to Sony for the opportunity to launch our little adventure; y'alls faith in us remains so appreciated! Y'all rock!